Grey Dawning

Grey Dawning looked good in winning the two-mile-five-and-a-half-furlong graduation chase at Haydock on Saturday. He moved to the front with a circuit to run, and he just stretched his rivals out. His jumping was very good in the main, it was sharp and accurate, he came clear on the run up the home straight, and he won as easily as he liked.

True, his main market rivals, Gaillard Du Mesnil and Apple Away, a National Hunt Chase winner and a Sefton Hurdle winner, will both be better over further, but that comment could apply to Grey Dawning too. Dan Skelton’s horse was racing for just the second time over fences here, and it was a nice step forward from the performance that he put up in finishing third behind the Albert Bartlett Hurdle winner Stay Away Fay at Exeter two weeks earlier. He should improve too for going out in trip again, although he is probably not as thorough a stayer as some of his rivals here. You would have thought that the Kauto Star Chase would suit him well, Kempton should suit his racing style, but his trainer said that he is better going left-handed than right, and that he has a race at Warwick in January in mind for him. The Dipper Chase at Cheltenham on New Year’s Day would be another option, but there are lots of them.

Haydock, 25^th November 2023